Enjoy a pro-veg commercial created by PETA for the Superbowl, but rejected as a tad too suggestive.

First, I agree with the writer for Mother Nature Network who hopes this means that PETA has abandoned its really, really obnoxious tactics, like over-the-top self-righteousness, not to mention violence. But then I can see why women's groups are asking PETA to "stop selling women's bodies in order to sell your message." Your reaction? This ought to be good.

34 responses to “Eat your vegetables”

Sooo…..Hubbie saw absolutley nothing wrong, in fact said ” Awesome”!!! he will be dealt with later!!! Really, I think some of the Victoria’s Secret ads have ben as bad , if not a tad worse!! Either way PETA gets the publicity!!
Were any veggies harmed in making this ad?

PETA can suck it. I don’t think they’re even interested in preventing cruelty to animals anymore (if they ever were): over and over and over now, the main thing they seem to be interested in is getting publicity for themselves by reducing women to objects. They’re also ridiculously (deliberately? It does get them publicity. . . .) tone-deaf when it comes to comparing animal-rights issues to slavery and the Holocaust. Or suggesting replacing cows with women (apparently in all seriousness) for producing ice cream:

Some animal rights organizations would try to lift animals up to the level of human beings; PETA’s approach seems to be to try to reduce human beings to the level of animals. This ad is just the latest in a long and moronic history.

I’m more or less sympathetic to concerns about animal cruelty and stuff, but if I find out that PETA and I agree on something — and this is not hyperbole, I really do this — I stop and rethink my position, and sometimes change my mind.

PETA offends me by its very existence because I can’t abide didacticism about food or most other things. I rank them right up there with the fanatics who think the earth oughta be taken over by everything else in the world and humans be made extinct. Right. They can start with themselves.

I liked it, but this ad doesn’t go far enough to be memorable, I’m afraid. I can’t help recall Paris Hilton’s incomparable Carl’s Junior ad, and once having recalled it, can no longer recall the PETA ad whatsoever.

The PETA ad could almost be (and most surely wants to be) a parody of the Carl’s Junior ad…but it doesn’t go far enough. And it’s not as well made. So it’s just a joke instead.

Sorry, but meat has more sexual connotation than broccoli. Do these vegetarian women “swallow?” Spermatozoa is meat, isn’t it? Cucumbers do lead to thoughts of female masturbation. Peta is in hard times man, hard times. Give us a break. Its so bad, its not even cleverly funny or ironic.

I saw this on Huffington, then Whoopie’s parody on The View–pretty funny! At first I thought Peta was co-opting the aesthetics of Superbowl audience and advertisers, but now I think that’s giving them too much credit. In the midst of all the raging food politics going on now, this ad does seem oddly irrelevant and tone deaf. It also seems to contradict itself–it clearly shows that VEGETABLES make better lovers, not vegetarians.

Ever heard the phrase “Choose your battles wisely”? I don’t think PETA has. Just like when they were fighting to get the names of some upstate NY towns like Fishkill changed, they have once again chosen an issue that makes people lose respect for their cause. I don’t think the commercial was that awful. I was more shocked by an Arby’s commercial where a man is lying in bed watching his wife come into the bedroom dressed as an Arby’s employee carrying a tray of burgers or whatever it is they serve there, and he gets an Arby’s erection.

But seriously, who is going to decide to become a vegetarian because of that commercial?

What is it with PETA and getting naked? Is it a high percentage of models in their membership (who, frankly, I would not take advice from about diets)? A mistaken attempt to reach out to the alleged average American male meat-eater? Some kind of food fetish?

Sometimes a vegetable is just a vegetable . . .

P.S. It’s not that I’m against getting naked per se! But I tend to agree that the soft-core thing here is way out of line.

Dee–I meant the vegetables as lover, as in: why date men when you can date broccoli? What’s so silly about this ad is it totally ignores the erotic potential of eating fruits and vegetables–ripe tomatoes, cherries, FIGS, etc etc. Whatever these gals are doing with all that produce, they don’t seem to be actually eating it. (Plus, I really don’t get the pumpkin–and don’t want to, either, I hasten to add.)

My wife and I are active in many animal rights/rescue groups – local shelters and Pitbull rescue. Long before the sex tack, we stopped reading any PETA material. It just had the opposite effect. Then the director advocated euthanasia of an entire breed – pitbulls – HUH? We have no use for people or organizations who can’t figure out basic logic.
Act locally. Support your local shelter.

And from a PETA rep:
“Ads for fried chicken and burgers are allowed, even though these foods make Americans fat, sick, and boring in bed,” one PETA rep said. Another wrote on the PETA blog: “I’m pretty sure that most Super Bowl fans would find the ad a lot more appealing than the impotence and other not-so-sexy effects that a steady stream of chicken wings and burgers can have on their love lives.”

They appear to have a smart marketing strategy in terms of exposure, and I agree with their message. Too bad for them (and the target audience) they have little-to-no respect in the real world.

But then I can see why women’s groups are asking PETA to “stop selling women’s bodies in order to sell your message.”

I agree. I find it really frustrating that objectifying women has hit an all time high and no one in the mainstream seems to care. Even high powered women dress immodestly nowadays. As if they have totally embraced the idea that the only way for women to get what they want is to use their bodies.

It was almost funny. If it had been funny, a true parody, I could excuse it. As it is, it’s just offensive & stupid. A long time ago I supported PETA, but they lost me when they classified pet ownership as a form of slavery. I think I’ll go have a burger now.

Dumb. The only reason I like PETA right now if that they are speaking up at current hearings o a bill write to Bloomberg!) to ban the cruel carriage horse industry in NYC. If I didn’t know what PETA was, I’d think it was just about having sex with vegetables.

They now have an extra $1.5 million to spend, the 30 second Superbowl ad cost.
They were so outrageous they they’re getting free press.
If people want to spend their money this way it’s fine with me. They’re helping animals and it’s not hurting me.

I’m offended that you would categorize all vegetarians as self-righteous. I’m not at all opposed to humans consuming animal products but what does offended me is Americans lack of compassion when it comes to how these animals are raised and slaughtered. It’s so easy for us to just ignore this problem when we could be consciously consuming animal products that are local, raised in a more natural environment and making sure that these animals are processed for human consumption in the most painless and humane way possible. So if I had to choose I would rather be self-righteous than dispassionate about any living creature, weather it be animals or humans.